BASEBALL: A-Rod’s lawyers blocked by MLB at news conference

FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2010 file photo, New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez speaks at a news conference during baseball spring training at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. Rodriguez gets to start arguing his case Monday, Sept. 30, 2013. In a hearing room before arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, lawyers for Rodriguez will argue why the 211-game suspension imposed by Major League Baseball on Aug. 5 should be overturned. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez’s lawyers were blocked from holding a news conference Monday with a person they described as a “major league baseball whistleblower” when the commissioner’s office obtained an order from the arbitrator hearing the case.

More than an hour after the scheduled start of the news conference, one of Rodriguez’s lawyers read the substance of the order from arbitrator Fredric Horowitz to the assembled media.

The lawyers would not say whether the “whistleblower” worked for Major League Baseball, one of its teams or some other affiliate. They also said the “whistleblower” had facts not directly related to the substance of the case.

Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games in August following baseball’s investigation of the now-closed Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic. The players’ union filed a grievance to overturn the penalty. The New York Yankees third baseman was allowed to play until the case is resolved.

Joseph Tacopina, one of Rodriguez’s lawyers, called for MLB and the players’ association to open the hearings to the public and release transcripts of the eight days of hearings thus far.

The hearings are scheduled to resume the week of Nov. 18, and Tacopina said it was unclear whether the case could be completed that week.

Former Clinton administration official Lanny Davis attended the news conference and said he had joined Rodriguez’s grievance team as an adviser.

MLB suspended 13 players last summer following its Biogenesis drug investigation. Rodriguez received the harshest punishment and was the only one in the group to contest his discipline.